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South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma will stand trial on 16 fraud, corruption and racketeering charges, the state prosecutors announced Friday, a month after he was forced to resign from office. The charges had been shelved in 2009, the year Zuma, 75, became president. On February 14 he reluctantly stepped down under pressure from his ANC party in the face of mounting allegations, the latest revolving around his business friends, the Guptas who allegedly had undue influence on his adminstration. Here are five of the biggest scandals: - Arms deal - After protracted back-and-forth court cases, the National Prosecuting Authority in March 2018 decided Zuma was liable to face prosecution on corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering charges involving almost...

Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe described his departure from office in November as a "coup d'etat" that "we must undo" in his first TV interviews since then, aired on Thursday. Mugabe, 94, spoke slowly but clearly to South Africa's SABC broadcaster from an office in Harare, dressed in a grey suit, sitting in front of a portrait of himself and his wife Grace. "I say it was a coup d'etat -- some people have refused to call it a coup d'etat," said Mugabe referring to the brief army takeover which led to Emmerson Mnangagwa assuming power after Mugabe's resignation. "We must undo this disgrace which we have imposed on ourselves, we don't deserve it... Zimbabwe doesn't deserve it." In another...

Cameroon's long-ruling President Paul Biya on Thursday convoked a rare cabinet meeting and vowed to push ahead with a military crackdown on English-speaking separatists in the francophone country. The west African country has had a tortuous colonial history that saw it pass from German rule to French and British hands and the anglophone minority complain of being marginalised by the French-speaking elite. "The efforts (of the security forces) must be continued, especially to ensure a return of normal economic and social activity," Biya told the first cabinet meeting held since 2015. On October 1, separatists declared two regions as the self-proclaimed republic of "Ambazonia"...

Women angered by a police crackdown on anti-government demonstrations blockaded a motorway in the Guinean capital on Thursday a day after three people were killed in a fresh round of protests. About 1,000 women, dressed in red and white, marched down the Le Prince motorway crossing the city, led by Halimatou Dalein Diallo, the wife of Cellou Dalein Diallo, who heads the country's main opposition party, an AFP reporter saw. They chanted slogans such as "Stop targeted kilings" and "Down with police barbarity." The opposition Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) has been staging protests in the capital, Conakry...

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Thursday renewing for a year its peace mission in South Sudan, while also threatening to later impose an arms embargo if necessary. The strongly-worded US-drafted text is aimed at piling pressure on South Sudan's warring sides as they head into a new round of peace talks in Ethiopia next month to end the four-year war. The measure "expresses the Council's intention to consider all appropriate measures against those who take actions that undermine the peace, stability and security of South Sudan, including an arms embargo, to deprive the parties of the means to continue fighting and to prevent violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement," a Security Council diplomat said. Under...

The UN Security Council is expected to adopt on Thursday a US-drafted resolution that threatens to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan and sanctions against those blocking efforts to end one of Africa's worst wars. The strongly-worded text is aimed at piling pressure on South Sudan's warring sides as they head into a new round of peace talks in Ethiopia next month to end the four-year war. The council "expresses its intention to consider all measures, including an arms embargo, as appropriate, to deprive the parties of the means to continue fighting," according to a final draft resolution.

South Africa reacted with fury on Thursday after an Australian minister suggested "persecuted" white farmers in the country should be offered fast-tracked humanitarian visas. Australia's Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who has drawn criticism for cracking down on asylum seekers from Asia and the Middle East, said white farmers could be admitted as refugees. Dutton made the offer in response to Pretoria's vow to enact land "expropriation without compensation" to redress land confiscations of the colonial and apartheid era. According to police, 74 farmers were murdered between 2016 and 2017 in South Africa, which has one of the world's highest crime rates. The African Farmers Association of South Africa said it was "offensive for the minister to polarise agriculture". "He...

Two upstart Sierra Leone political parties said Wednesday they had filed complaints over this month's elections after failing to make the cut for the second round of the presidential ballot. The National Grand Coalition (NGC) took 6.9 percent of votes in the March 7 elections to the presidency while the Coalition for Change (C4C) garnered 3.5 percent. The results left them far behind the two frontrunners, who go into a deciding round on March 27. The NGC -- whose rise last year spurred talk of the emergence of a third party in national politics -- is headed by Kandeh Yumkella, a former figure in the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), which topped the poll. C4C is led by...

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday visited the northeastern town of Dapchi, nearly a month after Boko Haram militants kidnapped 110 schoolgirls in a chilling echo of the Chibok abduction four years ago. Buhari was given a red carpet welcome at the Government Girls Science and Technology College, which was attacked on February 19, before meeting parents, teachers and residents. He told them the military and security services were working around the clock to bring back the girls and vowed to punish those responsible for both Dapchi and the Chibok kidnapping in April 2014. "This abduction Boko Haram carried out and the one they did before we came to power, in 2014, we will not allow them to go scot-free,"...

Two men were reportedly shot dead Wednesday during protests in the Guinean capital as the powerful teachers' union called off a month-long strike after reaching agreement with the government on pay. The strikes have paralysed the country's education system and fractured relations between teachers, parents and the state, while President Alpha Conde has faced criticism for allowing the industrial action to drag on. They have run in parallel to protests by the opposition Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), two of whose supporters were killed during protests, reports said. State television announced the death of 22-year-old Mamadou Bailo Diallo after a 25-year-old was also shot dead in the same area...

Chad's government and unions have signed a deal to end a strike over austerity measures that has paralysed the public sector for more than six weeks. The impoverished country, badly hit by a fall in the price of oil exports since 2015, introduced the austerity measures this year to meet the requirements of international donors. But the public spending cuts have increased social tension and anger towards President Idriss Deby, in power since 1990. Trade unions called an indefinite general strike in the state sector on January 29 after the government slashed civil servants' pay, and since then the whole public sector has stopped work, paralysing key sectors.

A Ugandan lawmaker apologised Wednesday after encouraging men to beat their wives to "discipline" them, in comments that sparked an outcry in the east African nation. The MP, Onesmus Twinamasiko, wrote in a letter to parliament that he actually "detests all form of violence against women". "Kindly accept my most sincere and unreserved apologies honourable members and the general public and more particularly the women." The apology comes after Twinamasiko gave an interview the day after women's day, March 8, to local television station NTV and said: "as a man you need to discipline your wife, you need to touch her and tackle her and beat her somehow, to really streamline her". His remarks sparked anger from women. However his...

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Djibouti’s container port will remain in state hands as the government seeks investment, a senior official said on Wednesday in comments likely to reassure Washington where lawmakers say they fear it could be ceded to China. The Doraleh Container Terminal is a key asset for Djibouti, a tiny state on the Red Sea whose location is of strategic value to countries such as the United States, China, Japan and former colonial power France, all of whom have military bases there. Djibouti last month terminated the concession of Dubai’s state-owned DP World to run the port, citing a failure to resolve a six-year contractual dispute. The cancellation accelerated diplomatic competition in Djibouti and renewed concerns in a number...

DAMATURU, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria will not rest until the last girl kidnapped by Islamist militants has been released, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday. Buhari was speaking on a visit to Yobe, the northeastern state where some 110 girls were kidnapped from their school in the town of Dapchi by suspected members of Boko Haram last month, the most high-profile mass abduction since the 2014 kidnap of more than 270 schoolgirls from Chibok. “There will be no rest till the last girl, whether from Chibok and Dapchi, is released. The girls, like all our citizens, must enjoy unhindered freedom and pursue their legitimate aspirations,” Buhari said in a tweet from the presidency. Buhari, the 75-year-old former military ruler who...

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who came to power last month, vowed on Wednesday to "escalate the pace" of redistributing land from wealthy whites to poorer blacks. Land ownership is a sensitive subject in South Africa, 24 years after the end of apartheid rule, and Ramaphosa warned the issue would "implode" unless it was addressed quickly. "We must -- given the history we have had -- work with urgency to significantly and sustainably escalate the pace of land reform," Ramaphosa told parliament.

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa will not allow illegal land grabs, new President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday, as the country prepares to expropriate land without compensation following a vote in parliament. Ramaphosa, who replaced Jacob Zuma as president in February, is under pressure to deliver on promises to speed up land reform after slow progress at redistributing land to the country’s black majority since the end of white minority rule in 1994. “We cannot have a situation where we allow land grabs, because that is anarchy,” Ramaphosa said in a speech in parliament. “We cannot have a situation of anarchy when we have proper constitutional means through which we can work to give land to our people.” Since...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa rebuked an Australian government minister on Wednesday for suggesting white South African farmers needed help from a “civilized country” and should get special visas due to the “horrific circumstances” they faced at home. Commenting on a documentary about violent rural crime in South Africa, Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton said the farmers deserved “special attention”, according to Australian domestic media reports. “I do think, on the information that I’ve seen, people do need help and they need help from a civilized country like ours,” Dutton said. As another threat to farmers, he also pointed to plans by new President Cyril Ramaphosa to allow expropriation of land as a solution to the massive land ownership inequalities...

Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim has refused to resign, vowing to fight allegations that saw her embroiled in a financial scandal, the presidency said in a statement Wednesday. Gurib-Fakim, Africa's only female head of state, has been accused of using a bank card provided by an NGO to make personal purchases. Last Friday Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced that Gurib-Fakim had agreed to resign, with a date set for her departure after Monday's ceremony celebrating the Indian Ocean archipelago nation's 50 years of independence. But a statement from the presidency slammed "weeks of attacks and false allegations"...

Police fired teargas at protesters from opposition parties in Guinea on Tuesday, while the ruling party of President Alpha Conde accused his opponents of seeking to destabilise the West African nation. The opposition Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) has been staging protests in the capital, Conakry, since losing February 4 local elections it says were rigged. "Until they give us our stolen votes, we won't leave the streets," UFDG leader and former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo told AFP. Young people erected barricades in the city, burned tyres and threw stones at police, who replied with teargas, an AFP correspondent saw.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari sacked the head of an amnesty programme for former militants in the country’s oil and gas-producing heartland, amid allegations of graft. Funding of the former Niger Delta militants under the 2009 amnesty has been key to maintaining relative stability in the southern region and preventing attacks on energy facilities in Africa’s biggest oil producer. Crude oil sales make up two-thirds of government revenue. But attacks resumed in 2016, contributing to pushing Africa’s biggest economy into recession that year as oil production was cut from a peak of 2.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) to near 1 mbpd, Nigeria’s lowest level for at least 30 years. Announcing the dismissal of Paul Boroh, a retired...